A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telephones; and more particularly, to a new and improved control method and system for a credit card telephone paystation.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional credit card telephone paystations include a magnetic card reader for reading data encoded on a magnetic strip carried on a credit card, checking the validity of the data, and storing the data for use in establishing a telephone call. A telephone call is established from such conventional credit card telephone paystations by the paystation sequentially transmitting a calling number identification signal and the credit card data signal before transmitting a called number identification signal to the telephone company central office. Special central office equipment is required for collecting billing information for each call made with the credit card data signal. Additionally, the conventional credit card telephone paystations are limited to a small number of different types of credit cards of several major types that are commonly carried by telephone users.
It is highly desirable to provide a credit card telephone paystation capable of accepting many different types of major credit cards and that does not require special equipment at the telephone company central office for billing purposes.